For Best Picture: "The Reader"

"The Reader"

In its story of a young man reunited with an older woman whose Nazi past had been uncovered, "The Reader" dramatizes how fascism affected a generation of Germans who were too young or naive to understand the full horrors of the Holocaust until years after the war's end. The Weinstein Company film was nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture.

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan

Credit: Weinstein Company

Memory

Based on a novel by Bernhard Schlink, the film uses flashbacks to fill in the blanks of the story as the central character reexamines his relationship with an older woman.

Credit: Weinstein Company

The Affair

David Kross plays Michael Berg, a 15-year-old student who meets a woman with whom he begins an affair. Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), who is reticent about her background, is eager to have the young man read literature to her -- Homer, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Mark Twain, D. H. Lawrence -- before making love.

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An Education

While Michael may presume his reading to be a form of foreplay, for Kate it is an entry into a world of stories and emotions from which she is excluded, because she is illiterate.

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Countryside

When their idyllic summer ends, Hanna disappears, leaving Michael with unanswered questions about her and their relationship.

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Prosecution

Years later, as a law student, Michael reencounters Hanna -- this time when she is on trial for war crimes, revealing her past as an SS guard in World War II.

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Sins Of The Fathers

Having argued the question of German guilt and acquiescence by his parents' and grandparents' generations in the face of rising Nazism, Michael now asks himself a similar question: Do I take personal responsibility and help Hanna, even if it jeopardizes my own position?

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Haunted

Ralph Fiennes, who starred as the German concentration camp commander Amon Goeth in "Schindler's List," plays Michael as an adult, seeking to somehow correct past sins of omission with an act of compassion.

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Kate

One of the most successful actresses of her generation, Winslet previously starred in "Titanic," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Iris," "Finding Neverland" and "Little Chidren." She received her sixth Oscar nomination for "The Reader."

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Stephen Daldry

A stage director who won the 1994 Tony Award for "An Inspector Calls," Stephen Daldry had been nominated for Oscars for his two previous features: "Billy Elliot" (2000) and "The Hours" (2002), the latter of which won a Best Actress Oscar for Nicole Kidman.

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Red Carpet

Kate Winslet attends the premiere of "The Reader" at the Ziegfeld Theater on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 in New York.

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Smacked

Winslet is greeted by co-star Lena Olin at the premiere of "The Reader." Olin ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being") plays a Holocaust survivor in the film.

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Golden Globe

Winslet holds her Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for "The Reader," one of two awards she picked up on Jan. 11, 2009. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association also gave her their Best Actress Award for "Revolutionary Road."

Credit: AP

Oscar Nominee

Because the Weinstein Company was promoting Winslet in the supporting category for "The Reader" for the Oscars (in order to not compete against her "Revolutionary Road" performance), Winslet faced the possibility of winning for both films. However, the Academy nominated her "Reader" performance in the Best Actress category.

Credit: AP

SAG Award

Kate Winslet poses backstage with the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role for "The Reader" at the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009, in Los Angeles.

Credit: AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Berlin Film Festival

Kate Winslet is flanked by Ralph Fiennes, left, and David Kross during a photo-call for the movie "The Reader" at the Berlinale (the 59th Berlin International Film Festival) in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Feb. 6, 2009.

Credit: AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz

Winslet And Kross

Kate Winslet and David Kross during a photo-call for the movie "The Reader" at the Berlinale (the 59th Berlin International Film Festival), Friday, Feb. 6, 2009.